Secure digital data collection

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for generating certified images and incident reports are disclosed. An image capture device can be used to capture an image and integrate metadata from camera sensors as well as other ancillary device sensors into the image. The image and its metadata can then be certified upon a check that the image and its metadata are authentic and unaltered. The image and its metadata can then be included in or as a part of an incident or other report describing an incident or event such as an accident or a crime. The image and/or incident report may be maintained at a cloud-based server for viewing, authorized editing, and subsequent distribution.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/052,774, filed Feb. 24, 2016, issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 10,282,562 and entitled “Secure Digital Data Collection,” which claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/119,951 filed Feb. 24, 2015 and entitled “Secure Digital Data Collection, Processing and Digital Ecosystems,” the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to digital imaging. More specifically, the present invention relates to certification of digital images captured by electronic devices.

Description of the Related Art

User devices such as smartphones or tablets can take photos using camera software applications designed to interact with camera hardware embedded in the user device. Some of these camera applications store photo metadata along with the photo. Examples of metadata include the identity the user device from which the photo was taken, latitude and longitude at which the photo was taken, and information concerning use of filters or other applications that may alter the digital image. The type, format, and details of such metadata are incomplete and inconsistent between camera software applications. A user of one software application cannot rely on a specific set of metadata to be present along with the same photograph should it be taken in another application.

Some types of positional, sensor, and other software or hardware data, while available for use, are often not stored as photo metadata or in a manner that allows for pairing of the data with a particular image. This data could be used in the context of other software applications or in the review of certain photographs. As a result, users may not be able to determine the exact positioning of a user device, an object being photographed, or the output of other sensors while or when the photo was being taken.

Photographs are also often used in creating an incident report. Creating an incident report usually involves transcribing details of an incident details such as a car accident or structural damage to a home from personal or third-party observation to handwritten form. Those handwritten notes are then entered into a computer or program operating thereon. Photographs related to the incident and showing the accident or damage are usually scanned or uploaded into the aforementioned computer or program by way of a physical or network connection. Traditionally, these images would have be—as a matter of course and necessity—accepted at face value with no reliable way to ascertain if the images were authentic or unaltered. The transcribed information such as the location and physics of an incident, too, were not always accurate due to human transcription or data entry error or a misreading of image data.

There is a need in the art to more completely collect available sources of metadata as they pertain to digital imagery—both still and moving. Further, there is a need in the art to better correlate such metadata to files or documents that may be associated with a digital image. Finally, there is a need in the art to be able to verify the accuracy of a digital image, the metadata therein, as well as any data that might be based on, related to, or otherwise derived from that image.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTLY CLAIMED INVENTION

In a first claimed embodiment of the present invention, a method for generating an incident report is disclosed. Through the claimed method, a digital image is received. Sensor data associated with the image is also received. A determination is then made with respect to the authenticity and unaltered nature of the digital image and the sensor data. A determination is also made that the sensor data includes at least a predetermined set of sensor readings. A certified image is then created by digitally joining the image with one or more of the sensor data or a subset thereof. A description of an incident is then received from which an incident report is generated said report including the certified image. The incident report is then provided to a network based server for subsequent management.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an image capture and certification system combined with an incident reporting system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an image capture system that combines a camera image with sensor data set from a sensor system.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary functions and features of the image capture system.

FIG. 4 identifies exemplary image metadata as may be utilized in an embodiment of the presently disclosed image certification system.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary image capture system and image certification system interfacing with different types of user devices and camera devices.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary incident report document with an integrated certified image.

FIG. 7 further illustrates exemplary sensor data that can be included a metadata for a digital image of the image capture system.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a user device software application for image capture, image certification, network transfer, and incident reporting.

FIG. 9A is a first half of a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of web portal software.

FIG. 9B is a second half of a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of web portal software.

FIG. 10 illustrates various exemplary aspects of the incident reporting system.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary incident report document with an integrated image and location map indicating where the image was taken

FIG. 12A illustrates an exemplary certified image within an exemplary image viewer application.

FIG. 12B is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of the intelligent image certification system.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary image security system as performed by the user device mobile application or by the web portal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods for generating certified images and incident reports are disclosed. An image capture device can be used to capture an image and integrate metadata from camera sensors as well as other ancillary device sensors into the image. The image and its metadata can then be certified upon a check that the image and its metadata are authentic and unaltered. The image and its metadata can then be included in or as a part of an incident or other report describing an incident or event such as an accident or a crime. The image and/or incident report may be maintained at a cloud-based server for viewing, authorized editing, and subsequent distribution.

FIG. 1 illustrates an image capture and certification system combined with an incident reporting system. The system of FIG. 1 includes an image capture system 110 that is described further in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, an image certification system 120 that is described further in FIG. 4, a network interface system 130 that is described further in FIG. 5, an incident report system 140 that is described further in FIG. 6, and a web portal system 150 that is described further in FIG. 10. Specifics of each of the foregoing elements are described in greater detail herein.

A system like that illustrated in FIG. 1 may include a 3-axis image sensor and a mobile digital data capture system with resident software application. Such an application may collect a variety of different types of data, including location, orientation, navigation attributes, or position at the time of image capture. Other information may concern ancillary or related support systems, networks, or hardware related to the capture system: transmission and networking protocols, particular storage or server systems, or information concerning web interfaces or access portals. The system also provides the ability to connect to specific user domains or devices allowing for collaboration in real-time while concurrently capturing remote data as might be generated in online meetings, such as whiteboards. This collaborative information is inclusive and extends to images, video, audio, and other forms of media (e.g., GIFs) as well as maps and various types of reports, including incident reports. In some embodiments, the system may be coupled to hardware such as optical readers, NFC or Bluetooth interfaces, as well as card interface readers.

Referring back to the 3-axis image sensor, such (x, y, z) technology allows for the introduction of data into the system such that image certification may be implemented thereby certifying an image. Such a sensor may also operate in conjunction with other software modules to insert, display, or permissibility manipulate the data as well as implement analytical tools to allow for utilization of the data in different market verticals. For example, certified image data could be used by the insurance industry, for surveying, with respect to farming, as well as manufacturing, security, drones, an autonomous conveyances. Law enforcement and the gaming industry could likewise utilize embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an image capture system 110 that combines a camera image with sensor data set from a sensor system. The camera image is taken using a camera embedded as a part of an image capture device. This device can be a camera such as a digital or analog point-and-shoot camera, a digital or analog single-lens reflex “SLR” camera, a digital or analog image-capturing telescope, a digital or analog image-capturing microscope, or a digital or analog camcorder. Consumer electronic devices with imaging componentry may also be used. For example, the user device can be a portable consumer user device such as a smartphone, a tablet device, a laptop computer, a wearable device, a portable gaming console, or a portable media player device. Less mobile devices may also be used such as desktop computers, television systems, gaming consoles, and various types of conveyances.

The image capture system 110 allows the user to capture images and video with greater precision and, further, to collect and gain access to metadata about the images or video. The metadata can include, for example, the exact location in latitude, longitude, and elevation of the image capture device. Captured information may further or alternatively include the roll of the image capture device, the pitch of the image capture device, the yaw of the image capture device, the velocity and/or direction of the image capture device, the viewing angle of the image capture device, the azimuth and/or compass bearing of the image capture device. Information concerning the horizon angles of the image capture device and the inclination and declination of the image capture device may likewise be collected. Such metadata can be attached to both images and video.

The digital data organization process of the image capture system 110 may be controlled manually by a user or automatically by computer hardware/software control processes. These may include organization by photos, video, audio, location, position, by image capture device, by user, by date, time, logged user, subscription user, or a number of other attributes of an image/video/audio/media file. Likewise, these images may be made searchable via these attributes in a network based (including “cloud based”) storage system as well as a local storage system. In some embodiments, the captured image/video/media can also be stored and organized by facial recognition means and subsequently searched or made searchable by facial recognition applications.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary functions and features of the image capture system 110. The image capture system 110 may include a three-dimensional image sensor with internally embedded individual functions for providing navigation, gyroscopic, processor, and communication technology. These various functionalities, which may be implemented through software, hardware, or a combination of the two, collect incident, event, and item images with sensor data.

As noted above, such information may include but is not limited to elevation, inclination, roll, pitch, yaw and bearing information. Other types of information might include position, time, altitude, zoom/telescope information, distance to/from a pictured object, elevation angles, XYZ position, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, GPS differential corrections, 3-axis positions of an object in the image, real-time kinematics (RTK) sensor data, real-time network (RTN) survey data, cell triangulation data, satellite map location data, street view map location data, map pointer data, map compass data, roll/pitch/yaw data, and world geodetic system (WGS) or world geodetic datum (WGD) data. This collected information may also include custom notes, text, or recordings as well as custom image markers, logged data, attachments, or pointers to additional files.

FIG. 4 identifies exemplary image metadata as may be utilized in an embodiment of the presently disclosed image certification system. The image certification system can be used to certify images and sensor data recorded by the image capture device. A certified image is one whose image data and sensor data have been ensured to be authentic and unaltered.

The image certification system can certify the image by creating a new data form that will travel with each captured image. The system can culminate data into the image data file and organize it in a visual file that is part of the image file. The data can be presented to a user through a traditional display device along with the image or can be viewed through a user control. The certification will be highlighted by certain colors and integrated with systematically collected data at time of capture and loaded into the appropriate location. A certified image can be signified as an image overlaid by a marker such as a barber pole, a “certified image” stamp, or a “certified by [image certifying authority]” stamp. FIG. 4 illustrates a barber pole logo and “certified by ImageKeeper stamp.”

A user seeing such a marker can be confident that an image certifying authority has certified the authenticity of the underlying digital data, video, image, and/or metadata. The image certification system may be used to ensure that digital image data is protected in an “original captured state.” That state can be certified by the image capture system 110 and/or a third party auditor system. That data can then be organized and/or secured (e.g., encrypted). The image certification system may store the images in network, cloud, or local area storage system like those shown in FIG. 5. The storage system may require a subscription before a user is able to interact with the data.

Embodiments of the present invention may be extended to other third-party applications or services. For example, a user may share/post, via social networks and social media sites or mobile applications (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Myspace), a certified image/video/audio/media, in either a secure (e.g., encrypted) or unsecure format. A user may also have the ability to send certified images/media to another device/user via a messaging system (e.g., SMS, Apple iMessage, Google Hangouts, SnapChat, email, or another communication method) in a secured (e.g., encrypted) or unsecured manner.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary image capture system 110 and image certification system 120 interfacing with different types of user devices and camera devices. The image capture device collects an image as well as sensor data (as seen on the left side of FIG. 5). The data is then autonomously sent to the internet/cloud system where the digital data is filed, stored and accessed through the web in a systematic or serialized format constant with image identification formed with the image capture device (as seen on the right side of FIG. 5). This data can be transferred over a wired or a wireless connection. In some embodiments, the image capture device can first synchronize its image and/or sensor data with a second device. For example, a camera device (e.g., a digital point-and-shoot camera) may first be required to synchronize its data with a user device such as a smartphone or wearable device, which can then form a connection to the internet/cloud system.

The internet/cloud system can include one or more server systems, which may be connected to each other. In one embodiment, this internet/cloud system is a wireless multiplexed system for securely storing digital data to and from mobile digital devices. In another embodiment, the digital data (e.g., images, reports) are securely held in one central place, either by a hardware memory device, server, or a data center.

Once the data is in the Internet/cloud system, it may be accessible through a web portal. This web portal may include image-editing tools, worldwide access, and collaboration mechanisms available to its users. Security, digital signature, watermarking, encryption physical access, password credentials area can be utilized throughout the system. Original digital data can be confirmed, saved and protected though various technologies and system controls.

In some embodiments, certain data integrity precautions can be taken. For example, all non-asset data can, in some embodiments, be secured in a local database with a globally unique identifier to ensure its integrity. The asset's security and integrity can be insured via a Digital Signature that is made up of a SHA1 digest, the time that the asset was captured and the device of origin. This allows the mobile app or server to detect changes due to storage or transmission errors as well as any attempt to manipulate or change the content of the asset. The Digital Signature can be encrypted with a public/private key-pair that was generated uniquely for that asset. The private key can be destroyed and never written to disk or stored in memory; as such, this ensures that the asset cannot be re-signed or changed in a way that cannot be tracked.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary incident report document with an integrated certified image. The incident report document may be a digital or physical document. The incident report can include a certified photo of an incident or event along with a description of the incident or event. This description of the incident or event can include information such as an identification and/or contact information of the user who took the certified photo using the image capture device and/or who wrote the description of the incident or event, a location of the incident or event, and a brief textual or graphical description of the incident or event. The digital data organization process of the incident reporting system may be controlled manually by a user or automatically by computer hardware/software control processes.

FIG. 7 further illustrates exemplary sensor data that can be included a metadata for a digital image of the image capture system 110. For example, the sensor data may include X/Y/Z location data of the image capture device and/or object(s) being photographed. Metadata may further or alternative include data about the distance from the image capture device to an object(s) being photographed, a time stamp of the image capture, GPS data for the image capture device and/or object(s) being photographed, elevation data for the image capture device and/or object(s) being photographed, or an elevation difference between the image capture device and the object(s) being photographed. Other information might include a bearing between the image capture device and the object(s) being photographed, a roll/pitch/yaw of the image capture device, an angle between the image capture device as compared to a level sensor, an inclination of the image capture device, or a compass heading of the image capture device as compared to true north and/or magnetic north. Still further examples of data include a distance to/from a cell tower, a cell tower triangulation location, a cell tower bearing, an RTN and/or RTK interface, a differential GPS correction, and a surveyed benchmark location/distance/elevation.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a user device software application for image capture, image certification, network transfer, and incident reporting. While the flow diagram in FIG. 8 shows a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that such order is exemplary. Alternative embodiments can perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, and overlap certain operations.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are flow diagrams illustrating an exemplary operation of web portal software. While the flow diagrams in FIG. 9A-B show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that such order is exemplary. Alternative embodiments can perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, and overlap certain operations.

FIG. 10 illustrates various exemplary aspects of the incident reporting system. For example, the incident reporting system may include a mobile software application for a portable user device such as a smartphone or tablet device. This mobile application may interface with the image capture system 110 and/or image certification system 120. This mobile application may interface with a network connection to the web portal, which may include a cloud/network storage module. The cloud/network storage module may be accessed in some embodiments through a dashboard interface hosted at the web portal. This may be tied to multiple interfaces for viewing images from the image capture system 110 and/or image certification system 120, and for viewing incidents associated with those images. In some embodiments, these may include image views with detail annotations, visual incident reports, and mapping tools overlaying incident report locations and/or image locations.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary incident report document with an integrated image and location map indicating where the image was taken. This is similar to the exemplary incident report document of FIG. 6.

FIG. 12A illustrates an exemplary certified image within an exemplary image viewer application. The exemplary image viewer application shows a “certified image” stamp or “certified by [image certifying authority]” stamp graphic in the upper left corner, signifying that the image is a certified image. The exemplary image viewer also shows image metadata in a viewable box on the right-hand side. This metadata is also certified as part of the certification process, and may in some cases also be marked with a “certified image” stamp or “certified by [image certifying authority]” stamp graphic.

FIG. 12B is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of the intelligent image certification system. The flow diagram includes four parts: the capture of the certified image, generation of a Copy of the certified image, the Image Security Process with an exemplary Security Meter, and the Screen Hosted Stamp.

Upon data capture, the digital watermarking and certification software processes may be applied to the digital image data as part of the image/video certifying process. A certified Image/video may be created along with the “certified image” stamp or “certified by [image certifying authority]” stamp graphic that may be embedded into or overlaid over the visual image. The certified image may be stored in a certified image file or bundle of files (e.g., a ZIP or RAR file) that includes the metadata for the image (e.g., location, direction, azimuth, sensor heading, and other potential metadata). The certified image file may then be securely transmitted and received in the web portal.

The certified image file may continue to contain all the certified data and certified image stamp/logo on the visual image as the file is accessed, used, or inserted into a report or printed etc. The certification and watermark may be configurable by graphics, by levels of security, location on the image, levels of transparency/size/holographic, and visibility. This configuration may be done automatically (e.g., based on media type, file size, device, user, etc) or manually via user control. Optionally, a user may choose to print, download, or turn additional graphics (e.g., certified image stamp) on or off.

A certified image may then synchronize or be transferred from the image capture device (e.g., camera device or user device) to the web portal server to be accessible through the web portal. This example is embedded into the image digital file and is transparent/opaque and has an accompanying logo of the user. This provides to the user a visual proof the image is true, real, accurate, unmodified without the user having to example the metadata file to manually verify, or the user attempting to verify that an image was unaltered. The process also allows users to detect image manipulation, changes, or attempts to change the original image data by researching the audit trail function of the system and to do so easily and quickly and without manual verification.

Multiple Certification Stamps based on the level of certification may be provided. For example, “a”-“z,” “1”-“n,” “Level a,” and “chain of custody” stamps may be provided, each indicating a different level of security or a different aspect of authenticity, security, or unaltered data checked and verified by the image certification system. In addition, a user with the proper authority and license can interact with the image data, reports by applying yet a further certification stamp into the data file by applying a device authority stamp to the screen showing the certified image or document and add that certification stamp to the screen with the screen interactive stamping device and the authority seal will appear on the document in the electronic file and become part of the document or image.

While the flow diagram in FIG. 12B shows a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that such order is exemplary. Alternative embodiments can perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, and overlap certain operations.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary image security system as performed by the user device mobile application or by the web portal. FIG. 13 shows digital signature and water marked images from the image capture system, which can be used in incident reports.

The presently disclosed invention may be implemented in the general context of computer executable instructions via software located on and between a remotely operated user device (e.g., Smartphone, tablet, or other electronic device) with a computerized operating system. There may be multiple user devices interacting with a web portal, which may be local or may be geographically separated. The user devices may be remotely addressable with secure login, with or without password, biometric fingerprint, voice, retinal scan or encrypted log on web portal providing global internet access, either via fiber, radio frequency, satellite, or data linking with bi-directional, cloud system and or data center or location under user command.

The web portal and/or user device mobile application can include annotation tools, allowing for creation of charts and graphics with color annotation incorporating picture in picture, with image numbers associated with each image brought into the web portal workspace. In addition to annotation tools, any interface with all of the external data inputs, such as weather, news, Internet sites, other sensor data can be integrated into the workspace and integrated into the image work areas.

In one embodiment, report generation is available in the web portal tool workspace. Along with the report development is internal electronic signature and annotation, with the ability to add images, text to document, voice to text, language conversion, spelling corrections, assigning a number to the report, with associated event/incident number along with all the images captured for the specific event/incident and other associated data. All of this data is captured by the web portal software application and integrated into the report either with the user commands or pre-established data could be added or selected either by the user or by the software program. The reports can be saved in many computer formats, and can be SMS, Emailed, Printed, Filed or stored on line or off line as required by the user or pre-selected choices made either by the user or the software.

The foregoing detailed description of the technology herein has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the technology to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the technology and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the technology in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the technology be defined by the claim. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating an incident report, the method comprising: receiving a digital image; receiving a sensor data set associated with the digital image; executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor: determines that the digital image is authentic and unaltered, determines that the sensor data set is authentic and unaltered, determines that the sensor data set includes readings from a predetermined list of required sensor readings, and generates a certified image by digitally joining the digital image with one or more of the sensor data set or a subset of the sensor data set; receiving a description of an incident; generating the incident report, the incident report including the certified image and the description of the incident; and transmitting the incident report to a network based server for further management. 